Sabbath Day

Kia Ora whanau!! 

So the week was a little slow. Elder M and I both agree that we should be in a cleaning phase for our area so we spent quite a lot of time planning. Like a lot of time. The rest of the time we spent trying to visit the people on our ward list and all the former and potential investigators previous missionaries have found for us. I'm excited for where it's gonna take us. Elder A and I did the same thing in Omahu and once we finished (which happened to be when I left) they started finding investigators and having baptisms! Haha I'm just hoping I get to stay for the flood of work that's gonna come in from cleaning and updating the area book. 

On Sunday in Sacrament meeting, Bishop  spoke to us about keeping the Sabbath day holy. He is such an incredible man. Two things that he said really stuck out to me. He devoted some of his talk to his daughters. He told them that they're gonna keep getting better at netball. They are gonna get older and a coach will want them to play on their team. The games will be on Sunday. They need to decide now to say no. He told us that if we work on Sunday or play sports, we might be rich or famous or well known but we're slaves to our money and sports. 

The other thing that I loved is that, like he said, we might have money or fame if we play or work, but if we keep the Sabbath day holy, we're special. 

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Benjamin

The Basics

Kia ora whanau!! 

Elder M and I have been doing some pretty neat things this week, let me tell you. 

A month or two ago, I asked several of you about the verse in Revelations that says you can't add on. Right? This guy, who spurred me asking the questions, became a new investigator of ours this week! Such a miracle.

We also starting having daily contact with another investigator, and it's made a world of difference. It's amazing how much it does to be able to know how she's keeping our commitments we leave with her and how much more revelation we're blessed with as far as helping her goes. We've planned a chapel tour with her this week and we're really excited for it. 

The church is pretty true. Did you know? Even all the way in New Zealand. 

I really miss Elder F though. It was hard to say goodbye to him but I'm glad I got to serve with him so long. 

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Benjamin

I am a Son of God

Kia Ora Whanau!! 

I can honestly say that this has been the best week of the mission. Crazy right?? Let me splain. No no no, too much. Let me sum up. 

I was really struggling with R but I knew that even though I didn't understand it, I could pray to be comforted through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. So I did just that. After district meeting on Wednesday, I asked Elder Osburn for a blessing and it was such an incredible answer to prayers. Among many special things I was told, I was told that R would be brought to the Lord when the time was right. As I hear that, it just kinda clicked in my head and I thought, "Oh. Hey. Everything will work out and I'll be okay." 

After the blessing, I was able to receive some really inspired council from the Osburns. (This is where the best week of the mission part comes in.) They helped me realize that I was letting other people define me. When I would get annoyed with a companion or an investigator would drop us, things like that, I was letting that define who I was. The Osburns told me that I need to define myself as a Son of God. Define myself by my divine heritage and then, tell myself that when something goes wrong or I get upset about something. That's what I've started doing and let me tell you, it made a world of difference. 

My whole mission, even with the incredible experiences I've had, I felt like I wasn't quite as happy as I should be. I never thought too much about it, but I always felt that just a little something was missing but when I started the "self-talk" this week about being a son of God, that's when I got that last bit of happiness that I was always looking for. 

So I guess this is really significant for me, but not a super great email... Haha so I hope you all can appreciate how much this really has helped me. 

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Benjamin